David Samuels asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

I just finished the first book in your Chalion series. Wonderful read! I noted the Early Modern Spanish and Medieval French political/cultural motifs, but what other periods/nations served as inspiration for your worldbuilding?

Lois McMaster Bujold Oh, gosh, I wrote that book 18 years ago, so it's all blurred in my memory. But I can say that besides Spain (obviously) I was thinking about a whole raft of not-necessarily-noble-born Renaissance ministers to kings and queens who helped usher in the transition from realms to nation-states: Walsingham, Cisneros, Richelieu, the unfortunate David Riccio, and so on.

The Hallowed Hunt, which you may get to, draws on a lot of material from a slightly earlier period in Germany. Kick-off book was:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

and then a pile of other source material including biographies of Charlemange.

Ta, L.

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